Inset: Aaron Jacob Bonnette (Ramsey County Sheriff's Office). Background: A New Horizon Academy location in St. Paul, Minn. (Google Maps).
A Minnesota man working as a daycare teacher has been accused of harming one of the children he was responsible for.
Aaron Jacob Bonnette, 29, was fired from the New Horizon Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, after the mother of a 4-year-old student said her little boy came home with bruises on his face. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, police received a report about child abuse at the daycare facility on June 29, a few days after the alleged incident took place.
Police said Bonnette was captured on surveillance video assaulting the little boy on June 25.
According to the complaint, police spoke to an employee at New Horizon Academy who confirmed that Bonnette was fired and reported to state licensing authorities after they saw the video.
Police said the video showed Bonnette approaching the little boy "casually," but noted that the child appeared to be "frightened." Bonnette allegedly grabbed the boy by his shoulder with one hand and lifted him into the air "while repeatedly smacking him in the face with the other hand." Following the alleged assault, Bonnette left the child crying while he was "face-down on the floor."
The boy's mother, who reported the incident on June 29, provided police photos of the boy's bruised face. Police said the bruises still appeared on the boy's face on June 30, five days after the alleged assault.
According to the complaint, a police investigator contacted the director of licensing at New Horizon Academy. The director said they had spoken to Bonnette about the alleged incident, and he claimed that he had only "used a blanket to cover a child's mouth for spitting."
Bonnette was arrested on July 1 after being charged with malicious punishment of a child, a gross misdemeanor. After being booked into the Ramsey County Jail, he was released with conditions. His next court date is scheduled for Aug. 13.
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